Rai, the Italian national broadcaster, has confirmed that Claudio Bisio, Virginia Raffaele and Claudio Baglioni will be hosting the forthcoming edition of the Sanremo Song Festival.

Last week Rai, held a special press conference in order to unveil the program for Sanremo 2019. The broadcaster revealed further details regarding the upcoming song contest.

Claudio Bisio and Virginia Raffaele will be joining Claudio Baglioni on stage in order to host the shows.

Claudio Bisio says:

Neither  Virginia nor I have anything to prove. The big news is that will be working together. Our aim is to work as a group on stage along Baglioni, if he allows it.

Virgina Raffaele says:

Having never worked together and having different pasts, but similar ones, as far as I’m concerned, I will experiment again this year. We will try to enter the song contest on time and add some colour!

The stage for Sanremo 2019 has been designed by Francesca Montinaro and will be largest ever stage in the history of the competition.

The 2019 Sanremo  Song Festival will be running from 05-09 February with the grand finale scheduled to be held on Saturday 9 February. The traditional Italian song festival is set to take place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo.

A total of 24 acts are lined up to compete in Italy’s most prestigious song contest.

The candidates

• Paola Turci – L’ultimo ostacolo
• Simone Cristicchi – Abbi cura di me
• Zen Circus – L’amore è una dittatura
• Anna Tatangelo – Le nostre anime di notte
• Loredana Bertè – Cosa ti aspetti da me
• Irama – La ragazza col cuore di latta
• Ultimo – I tuoi particolari
• Nek – Mi farò trovare pronto
• Motta – Dov’è l’Italia
• Il Volo – Musica che resta
• Ghemon – Rose viola
• Federica Carta e Shade – Senza farlo apposta
• Patty Pravo e Briga – Un po’ come la vita
• Negrita – I ragazzi stanno bene
• Daniele Silvestri – Argento vivo
• Ex Otago – Solo una canzone
• Achille Lauro – Rolls Royce
• Arisa – Mi sento bene
• Francesco Renga – Aspetto che torni
• Boomdabash – Per un milione
• Enrico Nigiotti – Nonno Hollywood
• Nino D’Angelo e Livio Cori – Un’altra luce
• Einar (Sanremo Giovanni winner)-
• Mahmood ( Sanremo Giovani winner)-

The winner of Sanremo 2019 will be eligible to represent Italy at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. If the winner declines to go to Eurovision, the decision to deliberate the 2019 Italian Eurovision representative will lie in the hands of RAI and the Sanremo organizers.

Italy in Eurovision

Italy is one of the founder members of the Eurovision Song Contest having debuted in the very first contest in 1956. The country has won the event twice with Gigliola Cinquetti (1964)and Toto Cutugno (1990).

The country has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by its most celebrated and internationally acclaimed artists throughout its Eurovision history: Ana Oxa, Domenico Modugno, Albano, Romina Power, Franco Batiatto, Umberto Tozzi, Matia Bazar, Marco Mengoni, Emma Marrone, Il Volo, Francesco Gabbani, Raphael Gualazzi, Massimo Ranieri, Ricardo Fogli, etc.

Italy withdrew from the competition in 1998 and returned to Eurovision in 2011 after a 13 year hiatus. Since their return to the contest the Italians have enjoyed great success in the event placing 6 times in the top 10 of the scoreboard.

Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro were crowned the winners of Sanremo 2018 and won the right to represent Italy at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with their entry Non mi avette fatto niente. The duo achieved an honorable 5th place in the Grand Final.